Chinese company Geely wants to buy 5% stake in Daimler

Daimler declined a bid which would have enabled Geely to buy 5 percent of the German group. The Chinese company doesn’t back down though and still wants to purchase a stake in Daimler.

The Chinese are eager to get hold of Daimler’s electric car technology, wanting to make a joint venture with the Germans in this respect. The Asian group wanted to buy 5% of the German company “at a low price”, but Daimler declined the bid, as revealed by people close to the situation.

Although initial talks fell through three weeks ago, the Chinese are still determined to buy shares in Daimler on the free market, willing to spend as much as $ 4.7 billion (4 billion euros) to get hold of 3% to 5% of the German group.

If an agreement with Daimler will materialize, this will mark the most important investment made by Geely after the Volvo acquisition in 2010 for nearly two billion dollars. If the purchase is approved, Geely is also set to become the third-largest shareholder of Daimler. Besides Volvo, the Chinese company also owns Lotus.

Daimler officials were “very satisfied” with the current shareholder structure, but the company would not refuse to accept investors with long-term plans in the event of a favorable agreement on both sides.